Hyde, Ralph. Paper Peepshows: The Jacqueline & Jonathan Gestetner Collection. Suffolk: Antique Collectors' Club, 2015.
About the Publisher: Oscar Michaelis (Berlin, active ca. 1880–1910)
Oscar Michaelis was a Berlin-based paper merchant, publisher, and inventor known for his work in the fields of mechanical office devices, industrial paper supply, and illustrated paper novelties. Active from the early 1880s into the first decade of the 20th century, he operated under the name Oscar Michaelis, Papier-Agentur und Commissions-Geschäft from addresses including Stallschreiberstraße 22, Schmidstraße 10a, and later Berlin SO 16.
Michaelis was the son of Justizrat David Michaelis (1817–1886), a highly respected jurist and longtime city councilor (Stadtverordneter) in Meiningen. David Michaelis was awarded the Ritterkreuz Erster Klasse (Knight's Cross, First Class), and although not baptized, was among the earliest Jews to enter legal study in Germany in 1837 despite institutional barriers. His children carried on the family’s intellectual and civic engagement: Oscar's brother Max Michaelis was a financier and philanthropist active in Africa, and Oscar himself continued the family’s professional legacy in Berlin.
Oscar Michaelis gained attention for a series of mechanical patents and inventions focused on wire-fastening and stapling machines. In 1884, he patented an "umbiegevorrichtung" (bending device) to flatten wire clamps in staplers (Patent No. 31586, dated 27 November 1884), a key component in his Unicum and Biblorhaptes brand machines. His Patent-Draht-Heftmaschine für Hand- oder Fussbetrieb (Patent Wire-Stapling Machine for Hand or Foot Operation) was advertised prominently in trade papers and praised for its robust construction and utility for printers, bookbinders, and office use. The Paper Dealers’ Association of Berlin (Papier-Verein Berlin) publicly endorsed his machine in 1879, describing it as both economical and technically advanced.
He also participated in civic life. A notice in the Amtlicher Teil of the Turngemeinde Berlin (Rowing Division) lists Oscar Michaelis as a member of the club’s elected leadership around 1900, serving alongside other prominent Berliners.
Michaelis’s business evolved over the decades. A listing from Meyer & Co. confirms that by 1889, he was associated with that firm’s Leipzig banking operation as a registered Prokurist (authorized signatory). In 1899, his Berlin wood-wool firm (Berliner Holzwollefabrik Oscar Michaelis) was renamed Max Belgard, indicating a corporate handoff or restructuring.
The name Oscar Michaelis also appears in advertisements for Anglo-Continental Stencils Co., and as the local representative in business correspondence regarding bookbinding materials, showing his active involvement in various branches of the paper and print trade.
While the precise date of his death remains unverified, a family obituary notes that he predeceased his father David, who died in 1886, and that he left behind a daughter who married in Heilbronn and another daughter, Isabelle, who was married to a state court judge in Eisfeld. His role as a Justice Councilor (Geheimer Justizrat) is also noted, further affirming the family's elite standing.